a little porch action...

I have been having some problems with rain bouncing off the deck and making it into the house under the sliding glass door. I had been using a big tarp but it did not last through the first snow (it barely lasted through the first rain) so the other day I made a small roof for the porch out of some scrap 2x4's, recycled pressure treated decking and some recycled pallets. The pitch matches that of the roof and it covers about 7 feet of the porch with a 2' overhang. It is screwed in right below the shingle line and is propped up with 2 supports made out of pressure treated lumber (also recycled). It is shingled with re-claimed pallet wood and though it leaks a tiny bit, it keeps the rain from splashing into the door. And it looks good, albeit a little "cabiny".

....ruminatin'

  The other day I was sitting on the porch of the house waiting for friends to arrive for dinner and enjoying the view to the south. It was cooling down and I looked around this little patch and day dreamed about what could be. I had built some raised garden beds that morning and in my minds eye I saw them over flowing with fresh veggies, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers...a bounty of food. I then looked East, past the fire pit, and pictured my chicken ark, full of healthy birds and fresh eggs.

 The path is hard. There is work to be done, but what a content feeling it will be when I know there will always be food, grown by me, on my table. I have lived so lean, for so long that just knowing those small comforts will be there makes me happy. I can do without electricity ( I do miss it) and the convenience that it brings but the peacefulness out here, without those distractions, is amazing. Soon my days will be spent tending my gardens and feeding my animals  and I am truly looking forward to that.

....lots of progress..

I have made some great progress on the house in the last few weeks. I replaced the undersized window in the kitchen with a larger "picture window" which is actually a recycled skylight. it is framed in and although I need to replace the siding around it (too many cuts) it is in place and looks great. I have it closed in and I put a piece  of plastic sheet over it until I can replace the siding. I put the window in now because the ledgers I planned to hold up my loft would make that difficult.....oh yeah, I put in the loft!!!

The loft was pretty easy. I ran 2 7' ledgers down the walls and bolted them into the wall joists with lag screws and washers. They are made from simple 2x4's which I sanded. The floor joists for the loft are also 2x4's. I laid them out on 12" centers and while the span is around 7 feet there is almost no sag when I get in the loft. In between the floor joists are spacers made from 9.5" pieces of 2x4 and all of these parts are simply nailed together. I laid some plywood up there and put my mattress to test for sag and for headroom. There is almost no sag but there is little headroom so I think a thinner foam mattress is in order. My innerspring mattress is really nice but it is 14" thick. I will get an 8" memory foam mattress and add 6" of headroom......well worth it.

I also started on the bookshelf/stairs combo for getting into the loft. I found a nice old oak pallet and salvaged some very rough but very beautiful 1/2" oak boards......enough to make 3 steps..each 19" wide by 10" deep. The stairs will start on the built in futon (which I have not started yet) and go up 2 tall steps with narrow bookshelves underneath.  The last step will be wider and will be on top of my closet (19" deep by 24" wide). I have not started this yet either, just focusing on the bookshelves to get an idea of how everything  will end up going together. When the futon/stairs/closet are done they will all bolt together and then get lag bolted to the wall for safety.

I am also working out an ottoman with a removable top that will clip into the futon bench to form a day-bed. I think it will be a simple 3/4" plywood slab 4' wide by 24" deep with some simple cleats that fit into the futon frame and the edge of the ottoman creating a 7x4 platform for the futon pad to roll out on. This will have to happen when I get back from Cincinnati.

....well again, pictures are coming soon. I really need a camera.

12v with no Solar ...

...I have been trying to prioritize projects at the house and while I really want to install Solar it is beyond me financially right now. I came up with a great work-around that I am going to share here. My van (the Vandaminium) os equipped with a second battery that is isolated from the starting battery but charges when the car is running. I made a 12v extension cord out of an old drop cord, some clip on battery jaws and a 3 way 12v accessory outlet. The cable hooks up to the second battery and runs into the house giving me 3 12v outlets for my dvd player, phone charger, pump for the shower and my little 12v vacuum It was an easy .project and a real no brainer since I already had the second battery charging all the time. This will work until I save up the funds for a real solar system (or micro-hydro power).

Zodi Shower Update

....so awhile back the little 6v pump on my Zodi shower crapped out and since I wanted a 12v pump I have been neglecting the Zodi and taking bucket baths. well last week when I moved the house I decided to get the shower back on line. 12v pumps are pretty expensive and after looking around it looked like I was going to have to drop some coin on a pump. While cleaning out an old tool box I came across a fuel pump from my old Land Rover. I remembered the pump working and I hooked it up to a 12v battery and it whirred away. This looked promising so I grabbed some tools and went to work..

First I had to strip away all of the extra parts so I was just left with the pump unit. This was very easy and when I was done I was left with just a 5" long cylinder about an inch and a half in diameter. This pump is an in-tank pump (basically a submersible pump) and needs to be mounted in the bottom of the water source, in my case a 5 gallon bucket.

I wired the + and - connections on the pump to a fused cigarette plug in thingy that I had laying around and went to work on mounting the pump in the bucket.

My first attempt was a failure as I tried to cut a hole in the bucket with a box cutter and then glue the pump in with some kind of household sealent. the sealent did not stick, the hole was too big and jagged and the bucket went in the trash. Luckily it was a beater bucket so I did not waste a good one.

My next attempt was a success and very very easy creating a great seal with no glue. I used my drill and a hole saw a little smaller than the outer diameter of the pump. I cut a hole in the bucket, sanded a little extra and then "press-fit" the pump in. It took a little work but it formed a great watertight seal without any adhesives.

My first shower was taken under the stars on a cool night and was luxurious!! The fuel pump has a higher pressure than the original Zodi pump and works much better. I am running everything off the second battery in the Van with a 12v extension cord that I made..

Happy Showers!

....and finally PROGRESS!!

...so the house has been moved!! We did it on a roll back and although it cost a little more money it went pretty smooth. The house sits on a slight incline and I leveled it using a pressure treated 2x8 on the high end and a large railroad tie on the low end. It is sitting flat and I added two small decks to the front and covered them with a large nylon tarp. I have been sleeping there for a couple of weeks and it is wonderful...falling asleep looking at the leaves change through the sliding glass door while listening to the creek down below.

Now it is time to get to work. I will add photo's as I progress with all the projects that are to come..

New roof
Rain water collection
Install ceiling
Outdoor shower/bathroom
Wood fired hot tub
Micro Hydro power plant and solar panels


I have a lot of work to do....

I am lame. House has stalled. Blah blah

So I have stalled a bit on the house. It is sitting in the lower lot of the raft company waiting to be moved to it's new home, an acre overlooking a waterfall next to a 100 year old barn on a 17 acre spread. Sounds great right? well, moving the house has proven to be challenging. I hope sometime this month I can do it and move back in but as it stands I am back in the Vandaminium and perma-camping again. There is not much to write about here but I realized today that I have neglected the blog so I am trying to get back at it.

more to come....